Poem: “Father” by Edgar A. Guest

A Heap o’ Livin’

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American Literature – American Poetry – Edgar A. Guest – Poems by Edgar A. Guest – A Heap o’ Livin’
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Father

Used to wonder just why father
    Never had much time for play,
  Used to wonder why he’d rather
    Work each minute of the day.
  Used to wonder why he never
    Loafed along the road an’ shirked;
  Can’t recall a time whenever
    Father played while others worked.

  Father didn’t dress in fashion,
    Sort of hated clothing new;
  Style with him was not a passion;
    He had other things in view.
  Boys are blind to much that’s going
    On about ’em day by day,
  And I had no way of knowing
    What became of father’s pay.

  All I knew was when I needed
    Shoes I got ’em on the spot;
  Everything for which I pleaded,
    Somehow, father always got.
  Wondered, season after season,
    Why he never took a rest,
  And that I might be the reason
    Then I never even guessed.

  Father set a store on knowledge;
    If he’d lived to have his way
  He’d have sent me off to college
    And the bills been glad to pay.
  That, I know, was his ambition:
    Now and then he used to say
  He’d have done his earthly mission
    On my graduation day.

  Saw his cheeks were getting paler,
    Didn’t understand just why;
  Saw his body growing frailer,
    Then at last I saw him die.
  Rest had come! His tasks were ended,
    Calm was written on his brow;
  Father’s life was big and splendid,
    And I understand it now.

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American Literature – American Poetry – Edgar A. Guest – Poems by Edgar A. Guest – A Heap o’ Livin’

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A Heap o’ Livin’

Father

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